


Mistakes

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Hikaru Sulu Character Study, I switched tenses multiple times and I don't even care, Mistakes, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Pike KNOWS that Sulu saved their asses, Short One Shot, Sulu is doing his best, Switching tenses, This is more of a "here have some words" than an actual story story, do with that what you will, prompted by a tumblr post, set between 2009 and Into Darkness, so...., thanks tumblr user vulcany for the idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 13:57:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11105982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: A short character study about Sulu, and the fact that his leaving the parking brake on inadvertently saved the lives on hundreds of crew on the Enterprise.





	Mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr user Vulcany posted "sometimes i remember that sulu saved everyone’s lives on the enterprise because he forgot to take off the parking break and i feel better about everything" and I immediately decided that I needed to consider Sulu's reaction to realising what his mistake had managed to do. 
> 
> Unbetaed. Very much unbetaed. Enjoy!

The battle is hot and heavy and terrifying, and Hikaru doesn’t have any time to think about the deaths of the hundreds of Starfleet personnel. Not while he’s falling rapidly towards the surface of a disintegrating planet. Not while he’s doing his best to pilot the massive hunk of metal that barely wants to cooperate with him because there’s so much damage.

But as they’re crawling back towards Earth without their warp core, and another pilot finally tells him to go the fuck to sleep, he finally has time to think. And his first thought is that… holy fuck, a lot of people died.

And he wasn’t one of them. He’d managed to keep himself, and a lot of people on the Enterprise, safe. Because he’d made a mistake.

He’d been so nervous, getting assigned to the Enterprise. No, nervous didn’t even begin to cover it. He’d been outright terrified, especially with Spock and Pike looking at him like he was just a kid. (It didn’t matter if, in their eyes, he was one. Chekov was a kid. He was an adult, damn it, and he wanted them to see that!) But by… well, as Pike had deadpanned, leaving the parking brake on? He’d made it so they were kept out of the heat of the first wave of the battle, and he’d…

The revelation dawned on him as he slid down the wall in an isolated hallway. He’d kept them all from dying because he’d made a stupid mistake.

—

He’s speaking to a class of Starfleet cadets not much younger than himself when the revelation hits him again. Someone asks him how he had performed so well under pressure, and he starts to answer before the words dry up and he just stares at this cadet, this girl with brown hair curled into a neat bun on the top of her head, watching him with wide eyes, as though she couldn’t believe that he was still looking at her.

When he finally opens his mouth again, the words don’t feel like his own, but they feel so right that he can’t seem to stop them. 

“Everyone thinks that we did something great. And… I guess we did something good, but it wasn’t skill, or… prowess, or experience. It was a whole lot of dumb luck.” He pauses, glances at Pike, who has been standing in the back of the room, waiting for Sulu to finish so he can take control of his class again. “I left the parking brake on.” He sees Pike chuckle, though his eyes are sad, and there are a few titters of laughter throughout the room as the cadets glance at each other curiously. “Yeah, you can laugh. It’s a pretty dumb move. But by forgetting to disengage the external inertial dampener, I made us late to the first fight against Nero.” The girl who asked the question is scribbling in her notebook, now. “If we’d been with the other ships, I guarantee that we,” he nods towards Pike. “Would not be standing here today.” A silence falls over the room, a hush that suggests he has hit his mark. Pike’s head is bowed. “So, to answer your question, cadet… I didn’t perform well under pressure. I was terrified, but the mistake I made kept most of the crew of the Enterprise safe.” He pauses to collect his thoughts, and then finishes. “My point is that you can’t be afraid to fail. Sometimes, your failure might just be the thing to save your ass when everything’s against you.” He swallows and nods once more at Pike before saying a few closing sentences and exiting the room.

**Author's Note:**

> Like I said, short and sweet. Hope it wasn't too terrible. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are love!


End file.
